


Steven Universe: Rise AU

by EternalScribbles



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29564244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalScribbles/pseuds/EternalScribbles
Summary: In a world where gems don't exist in the form like in the original, where those who died, and were made lifeless reign, unknown to the organics of the world.We follow St\en, a ghost who died at the age of 8 and had been dead for 4. Some of his memories of his life is hazy, such as his full name, but he has his 3 favourite ghostly guardians with him and that's all he needs. At least, until strange ones from far, far away begin to disturb the peace.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Steven Universe: Rise AU

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfic here on AO3, and the first one I actually kinda planned a bit and plan on finishing! My writing isn't good, nor my tagging as I am really bad at tagging since this website is new to me, but I'm trying. Any critique anyone has would be greatly appreciated! Now, enjoy chapter 1 of the Steven Universe Rise AU!

He couldn't believe it when it happened. He was only 8. Yet he followed the bounce of his ball which led him to his doom. He heard the cries of his parents as a loud screech rang through his head. He blinked, but his eyelids never opened again. Pellets of rain crashed into the road, accompanied by the muffled sobs of two adults with the rumbles of thunder.

He shot up. Were he still alive, his heart would beat like a siren as bullets of sweat ran down him. Fortunately, or not depending on the person, he was dead, leaving all signs of a nightmare nowhere but on his face.  
As he calmed down, his eyes peered around his bedroom, which was open to the rest of the house (minus the Temple, one of the only places inside which had a door. The other being the bathroom).

St\en had been dead for 4 years now. Found by 3 other ghosts and taken in when he was at his most lost, with his memories all mixed up left and right. Stars, he couldn't even remember his own name at first! Most of it came back to him though, but he kowns he's missing a part of it. The gems all apparently had some relation with his mom.  
Mom, Rose Quartz, was extremely sick. With what, he wasn't told. Most he knew was that she had frequent hallucinations and mainly had to stay in bed or in the hospital, she was extremely weak too. He could only assume they either knew her when they were alive, or they talked to her in the form of hallucinations. Maybe she never even hallucinated, and could actually talk to ghosts! That would be pretty cool, in his opinion. He'd also probably be able to talk to her. Not like he had tried yet, though, partly due to not knowing where she was now. His parents must've moved after his death, as he could not longer find them. So he made a mental note for later, for when he bumped into them again. He hoped he'd bump into them again.

Whatever the relation with his guardians and his mother was, they were really nice to him. Irreplaceable.  
There was Garnet. Mysterious, often likes to disappear, talks the least out of the 3, but always a blast to be with. She was cool.  
There was Pearl. Proper, elegant, and very flow-y. Kind of uptight, but kind nontheless.  
And finally, Amethyst. Really fun, fit for comedy. If she wasn't dead, she'd have probably been a comedian or something! She's the youngest out of the 3, and the only one who actively keeps up with the modern era.  
As a group, they were called The Crystal Gems! Nobody told him why though despite his constant questioning.

Speaking of the gems, St\en could hear their panicked voices outside.

He rose from his bed- which was useless to him, but he liked to sleep anyway, just for the familiarity of it- and descended down, rushing to the door and kicking it wide open. Below him, the sand was infested with transparent pests currently being shooed away. "Hey, St\en!" Amethyst called as soon as she noticed him. She quickly threw the creature she was dealing with, yelling 'YEET' at the top of her nonexistent lungs, and jumped up to meet St\en, who was now resting on the porch fence. She gripped the fence with a smile. "Hey Amethyst. What's going on?"  
"Nothin' much, just tryna get rid of these animals. I think somebody musta called pest control services nearby." He sighed, it was always a pain to get rid of the animals that came after death. It mostly consisted of insects, and sometimes pets too. The pest control in Beach City was the one that mainly got the insects coming so often.  
He wished he could help the gems shoo them away, but alas, he barely knew how to use any of his ghost powers. And they were often a gamble, anyway. Sometimes, he could go through walls. Other times, he'd just slam into them. Sometimes he'd be able to float, he usually has to walk most of the time though. Not to mention the plethora of things he just couldn't do in general, such as change his form or create a defensive or offensive apparition (like Pearl's spear, Garnet's gauntlets and Amethyst's whips). So he just kind of watched.

"I'm gonna go visit Sadie. Be back later!" He waved to Amethyst before jumping over the fence and running to The Big Donut, where Sadie spent most of her days. "Cya, Ste-man!" The others were too busy to notice him leave. In fact, he's not even sure if they knew he arrived.

With the shadow of The Big Donut looming above him, he sneakily sliped inside with two buyers. He eagerly greeted Sadie, "Hi Sadie!"  
"Hi, Steven." Her wave was short, sweet, and light. She was floating to the side of the two living Big Donut employees. One was a complete stranger, short ginger dude with a ponytail, and the other was Lars: Sadie's boyfriend before she got murdered. Take one good look at him, and it's clear how perfect he is for the job. His ears were basically donut shaped and his square-ish head and frosting-like hair make him look like a cake. "Anything interesting happen lately?"  
"Not really, unless you count the fact that cookie cats were discontinued."  
"What!? NOOOOOOOOOOO! They were my favourite!"  
"Not like you could even eat them anymore, and lion lickers still exists," she snickers. St\en's face contorted into one of disgust.  
"Eugh. Lion lickers. They're gross! They don't even look like real lions!" He waved his arms around before glaring at the melty, un-lionlike ice cream treats in the giant freezer against the right wall.  
"If you miss them so much already, since I doubt they're gonna use the cookie cat fridge anymore and are probably going to bin it, you can have it if you want. Once everybody leaves, of course, since we can't have a floating mini-fridge." St\en beams.  
"Thanks Sadie!" He take a glance at the fridge. It was simple; an ivory rectangle with a small window of sorts looking inside (nearly the size of the entire mini-fridge). On the 'forehead' of the fridge was a plastic cookie cat. "I'll come pick it up this afternoon. By the way, how's Lars?" He almost forgot to ask, he always asks.  
"He's doing better. Smiling a whole lot more recently. I think he's finally starting to move on, since he's been talking to this one guy for a long while which he seems to really like if you get me... Well, not a 'guy' guy, but you know what I mean."  
"Yea. That's awesome! Well, I should probably get going now. I think that Ronaldo guy might be coming soon, since it's around the time he usually does." His eyes quickly peaked at the clock.  
"Yea. That human really likes his research. We both know what happened when he accidentally caught Mr. Smiley on camera." They shivered with the memories.  
"Cya, Sadie." They exchanged a farewell before Steven departed, happily going through the wall. He sighs in relief at the lack of his face against the glass before starting his walk back to the technically uninhabited and haunted beach house.

As a ghost, Ronaldo was one to avoid. He was a good kid (if you could even call him a kid) but he was extremely passionate about his studies of the extra terrestrial and otherworldly. He was fond of ghosts to a creepy level, constantly taking pictures, organising folders of evidence and looking like a mad scientist who was wronged by the world. He caught St\en twice, once even convincing him to answer 2 question for him, which were 'how did you die' and 'are you vengeful'. His answer to the first one was kinda vague, since he doesn't like talking about it, but Ronaldo eventually found out and has been trying to figure out who he was ever since. Fortunately or not for St\en, so many got killed the same way he did, so Ronaldo hasn't been able to narrow it down yet. A part of him is rooting for Ronaldo, hoping he find out so that St\en could remember more of his past (or at least know his full name), yet another kind of wishes not to know. It might break his heart to know. He's conflicted.

He's also worried about how many died the same way he did in the same city. They REALLY needed to sort that out.

Approaching the beach house, it was clear the gems had finished clearing out the bugs. A small smile of relief tugged at his features as he skipped up the steps and inside. "Hey guys!" He beamed.  
"Sup!"  
"Hello, St\en."  
"Hi, St\en."  
Amethyst was in the kitchen, gulping down the food she didn't need nor that would stay for long. Pearl was nearby, semi-glaring at Amethyst while ordering the kitchen that Amethyst had presumably messed up. Garnet was leaning on the side of the fridge, looking to the floor.

"You look slightly sadder than usual, man, somethin' happen at The Big Donut?"  
"Not much, it's just my favourite ice cream got cancelled..."  
"You mean those chocolate kittens?" Pearl questions, quickly corrected by Garnet.  
"Cookie cats."  
"You can't even eat them anymore though, what does it matter?"  
"Well first, they're my living childhood treat, and second, nobody else can taste the greatness that was cookie cats anymore!"  
"What if we just made our own," Amethyst suggested. Steven gasped, dramatically slapping his hand to his cheeks.  
"That's a great idea! We could make some and secretly give it to stores to sell, or we could just drop them off to random kids and homeless people!"  
"We could break into people's houses and sneak some into their fridge!"  
"Amethyst, no! No breaking into houses, even if to just give them cookie cats." Amethyst rolled her eyes at Pearl, who got even angrier at her attitude.  
"Stop fighting, let's go buy the ingredients." Garnet butt in.  
"Oh c'mon, buying is so last century! We're ghosts, why do we even bother to secretly pay if we secretly take!?"  
"Because it'd be rude to take a stores product and just not give back to them," Pearl replied.  
"Where do you even get the money, huh, Pearl?" Her gaze drifted to the side and she paused for a moment, before beginning to walk away with slight urgency.  
"Come now, we have stuff to get!" She robotically walked through the door and towards the nearest store.  
"That's a lil suspicious if you ask me, but a'ight." Amethyst followed behind, along with Garnet and St\en.

After an eventful shopping experience, the gems arrive back home, groceries in hand. They hope nobody saw the floating plastic bags, for their sake. Garnet, the one actually carrying the bags, put them on the kitchen counter. And will the little energy her voice usually carried she said "let's get cooking." The gems stall no longer, getting to work.

Cooled and slightly misshaped, the gems gazed proudly at their recreation. Too bad they didn't have a taste tester. Amethyst would happily do it, but she can't taste either. She just likes the feeling of mush going down her body. Either way, they looked back at each other with glee. St\en found himself giggling with pride and joy at the success of the activity, success being Amethyst not eating it immediately and the treats actually looking edible, as a pink glow enveloped his form, and a new ghostly object came together.

The gems' eyes sparkled as they stared at the circling quarter of a sphere which was floating in front of Steven. A shield. Pink, with a rosy pattern. It began in the centre, with a circular yet sharp and simple rose design, and a long line of a green tint spiralling out and away from it. "St\en! Your weapon! It's a shield!" He practically became the sun, his joy infectious.  
"Awwwww YEA!" His arms shot into the air, causing the shield to launch away from St\en. It bounced against wall after wall and object after object, before flying out the window in Steven's bedroom, a cacophony of shattered glass danced in and out of the confines of the house. "Woops..." He let his arms fall, one going back up to scratch the back of his neck as he looked to the side.  
Amethyst put her arm around St\en. "Dude, do it again!"  
"I-I dunno how! Uhhhhm..." He waved his arms in front of him like those magicians in the shows he watched, while trying to focus really hard on summoning that shield again. He soon let him arms droop back beside him with an exhale. "How do you guys do it so easily? I've seen you all do it on the fly!" He looked back at the gems. Pearl perked up.  
"We can show you how it's done! I'll go first!" There was no argument there, as Pearl took St\en by the hand to lead him outside.

Giddy, Pearl took him to a beautiful plain of short, even grass which shimmered in the sun. It was the prettiest green his eyes had ever seen. Proudly, there stood a gorgeous tree, blossoming with pink petals graciously spinning to the soft cushion that is the lush lines of viridescent.  
Looking down upon St\en (being way taller than him), Pearl began to speak, with more emotion than necessary. She blabbed on and on about the petals- how calculated each sway was- before summoning her spear in front of her. She took hold of it at the handle and proceeded to do many tricks with it, with the softness, elegance and precision that would surpass the skill of the greatest ballerina known to man. A part of him suspected it has something to do with her being a ghost, or maybe she was just big in ballet before she died.

Later, Amethyst found him among piles of pretty pink petals. Collecting them up in his arms before expelling them into the air, he just didn't understand what he was doing wrong. "Ugh, did Pearl tell you that petal thing?"  
"Yea. She said I need to flow like these petals! Or something... But it hasn't been working."  
"No duh."  
"How do you do it, Amethyst?"  
"I don't think about it, and just pull it out. Like this, watch." Amethyst looked lazily towards a bunch of garbage down an alleyway nearby. Effortlessly, her weapon summoned to her side. She promptly took it by the handle and brutally attacked the dumpster and trash bags before looking back to St\en, hand on hip and swelling with her current hubris. "See?" The upset yells of a human that had come out into the alleyway, Lars, went ignored by Amethyst. "Not again," he complained. "This is the third time this week!"

St\en dragged himself up the hill near his home, perplexed. And when he spotted Garnet, a flame of hope burned within him. Garnet's smart, she might be able to help! He ran towards her. "Hey Garnet!"  
"Hi, St\en."  
"Could you help me?" Garnet looked down at St\en, letting him continue. "Pearl and Amethyst tried to help me summon my weapon again, but I'm just confused... Apparently, I'm supposed to give it my all, but also not try at all?"  
"Yea. Or," she began, "you could link your mind with the energy of all existing matter, channeling the collective power of the universe through your gem! Which results in:' She made quick, sharp movements that were like a dance with her arms and slightly her body, before slaming her fists together, making two gauntlet apparitions form. "...At least that's my way of doing it."  
St\en blinked. He was never gonna get the hang of this...

Face first in his bed, he had long given up on trying to resummon his shield. But then, an idea struck him...  
He collected the gems in the kitchen. "We have to bake more cookie cats."  
"What? Why?"  
"Because if I recreate the scene, I'll be able to figure out how I summoned it the first time!"  
"St\en, I don't think that's how it works-" Alas, any argument was futile, as they gave in to St\en's pleas. Another batch of cookie cats, coming right up.

Dissapointment was like a brick to the face. He sighed as he eyed the wooden flooring. "Hey, don't sweat it, Ste-man! I'm sure it'll come to you in time." She reassuringly pat his back, earning a tiny smile which quickly fell.  
"But I'm useless to you guys. I stay here, and can't do anything to repay you the favour! I can't even help with simple bugs..."  
"You do repay us." St\en looked up in confusion towards Garnet. "By being the light of our day." She smiled down at him. He smiled back. They all came together in an awkward hug, and St\en giggled with joy, before he began to glow again, and his shield came to life behind him. They all looked ecstatic. "Wait whaaaaaaaaat"

"So, my shield must summon when I giggle!"  
"But why 'asn't it 'appened before when you giggled?" Amethyst wondered.  
"It couldn't be because of a giggle- that's just not right! Usually it's brought on by a feeling, not an action!" Pearl was past perplexion. "What were you feeling? During after baking the cookie cats and in our hug?"  
"Uhh... Happy?"  
"That'd be a more sensible assumption than every time you giggle."  
"That'd be awkward in a fight, anyway," Amethyst commented. He couldn't help but agree.  
"Uh hey guys? We should probably put the makeshift cookie cats in the the freezer before they melt." He gestured over to the freshly baked cookie cats, which looked like they were gonna melt any second now. Garnet quickly placed them into the safe, cold confines of the fridge. "Oh, that reminds me! I have a cookie cat mini-fridge to go pick up!"  
"Why?"  
"Oh, well, Sadie offered me the mini-fridge for cookie cats since cookie cat production ended and The Big Donut employees were probably gonna just throw it away anyway. But I had to wait until noon since a floating fridge would definitely be something to write home about." Garnet nodded and pointed to the door.  
"You should probably hurry then." St\en nodded and waved before taking off.

It was past closing. The fridges were all emptied out and unplugged, and the door was locked wig the alarm set for the night. St\en ran into the glass before phasing through. "Wait, how am I gonna get it out?"  
"The back door-" He yelped as Sadie emerged from the darkness.  
"Oh, it's just you. Sorry, Sadie!" Brushing it off, Sadie continued.  
"Anyway, the back door doesn't have an alarm, just a lock. There's a backup key hidden in the box full of packing peanuts. I already got it out and put it on the table for you, though."  
"Oh, thanks!" He picked up the mini-fridge and straped it to his back like a backpack. The outlet dangled. He rushed to the employee's only room, taking the key and opening the back door. He placed it on the floor before taking his leave and closing the door behind him. Speeding, he dashed back home. Despite confient that no one is out so late, you can never be too sure.

Propping it onto the kitchen counter, he smiled at it fondly. The gems had disappeared off somewhere, but St\en wasn't bothered by it. This happened often. What didn't happen often, however, was the demonic screeches outside. Curious, he peered out the window, only to find the source was a giant, long green centipede ghost thing. It towered the gems, and seemed to be spewing a dangerous and corrosive venom. Panic struck him like a bat as a he scrambled out to the porch. He tried to summon his shield, to no avail. He giggled, he thought of the happiest things he could, but his panic overrode it all. He ran back inside, taking a cookie cat from the fridge and threw towards what was currently a battle sight. The ghost seemed to be quiet animalstic, meaning it'd want to survive and would likely he attracted to food. And not to his surprise, it leaped past the gems, chomping up the cookie cat in one before becomes violent once again. This meant he could distract the beast! All they had in the fridge was those cookie cats, so he ran back and took more of them, throwing them far apart on the sand. The gems noticed his strategy. But to their dismay, it ate too quickly, and was just quick in general, each move to the next cookie cat making the tail of the best slam into one if the gems. But St\en had an idea, one he'd hate.

He zoomed to the cookie cat mini-fridge, stuffing it to the brim with cookie cats. And with all his might, he hauled out outside and let it fall into the sand. This caught the beast's attention, and it wasted no time approaching it and chomping it down. Both the fridge and the contents inside. This allowed the gems to jump in and land their fatal blow.

He didn't even need sleep anymore, everyone was sure of that. But he liked to do it anyway. Staring at the ceiling, he rested on the bed. He was exhausted, in a way.  
He might get the hang of everything eventually. He just wished he weren't so slow, unlike most others. He shut his eyes, and drifted off into the endless, suffocating void of darkness.

R.I.P Cookie cat fridge  
19XX-20XX


End file.
